The Lost Dragoons
by Queen of the Faeries1
Summary: Shirley asked her to free their souls. But how do you free souls from death itself?


Author's Note: I just couldn't fit this in my story, so I figured I should post it up separately. So here we go.

The Lost Dragoons 

Ten days later, we are on the _Queen Fury_, sailing toward Rouge.

I resume my position at the mast, watching the wind whip across the sea. But my thoughts don't gather together. I have lost the ability to stand still and simply be without growing bored. My thoughts don't come together, and I can't think. I am restless.

I shift my weight from one foot to the other, gazing into the distance.

The familiar aura of Vellweb is tearing at the corners of my mind, and I remember.

_After you are finished speaking with Diaz, please free the souls of the four lost Dragoons._

Quickly, I climb down the ladder.

Commandore Puler is standing at the helm. I remember what I had said to him the first time, when I had come down to loosen my legs. I had looked at Dart, and Commandore Puler mistook it.

_"He is lost in his thoughts. It happens often to those at sea."_

_"I don't need Dart." _

_"Then..."_

_"I don't need you either."_

"Dart," I call.

The red-clad warrior looks up. Again I am amazed at the lack of accusation in his eyes. I know that the hatred he felt for me when he first discovered I was the Black Monster will never fade from my memory, but now he only looks at me with warmth and acceptance.

"Do you remember what Shirley told us?"

Dart's eyes widen as the thoughts rush back into his mind. "That's right!"

"We are close to Vellweb now." I turn to Puler. "Please stop the ship at the shore. I can walk from there."

"Walk where?" Meru asks, dancing up the steps with the others in tow.

"Nowhere," I reply quickly.

"Rose," Albert says, using the patient-king tone. "I thought we all promised not to hide secrets anymore."

I look away angrily. "I'm going to Vellweb."

"Why?" Haschel asks. "There's nothing left there. You saw for yourself."

"Shirley asked me to free the Dragoons," I reply almost defiantly. _Gods above, since when have I allowed emotion in my voice...ever?_ "So I'm going to. They are my... friends. I've known them since eleven thousand years ago. I'm going to Vellweb."

"We'll go with you," Miranda says firmly. "We told you that you're not going to have to walk alone." Her words were meant to be friendly, but the firm tone spoke otherwise.

"She's right," Dart agrees gently.

I shake my head, dark hair tumbling over my shoulders. "No. It is personal. You understand. If you want, Dart, you may come, but only you and no one else." I turn to the captain. "Commandore, please pull the ship to shore."

Puler obeys, drawing the _Queen Fury_ as close to shore as he can get it before he runs it aground. Without waiting to see if anyone follows, I walk up to the deck and dive overboard.

The water is deep enough so that I do not smash my head against the ground.

"Hey, Rose! Wait!"

There is a hurtling of red and a splash, and then Dart breaks the surface, coughing. "It isn't as cold as last time."

"Last time you were unconscious," I remind him, turning onto my back and kicking to the shore.

It will be at least two days before we can get there.

On the night of the second day, when I can see Vellweb in the distance, Dart's cooped-up hatred comes out.

I had sensed it, but I wasn't sure how he would deal with it.

"How are we going to save Shana and the world at the same time?"

I stay silent, knowing that there is no possible solution for both to live.

He seems to be thinking out loud, bitterly, spitefully. "Shana is the Moon Child, the soul of the Virage Embryo. Does this mean that she has to die? Is her fate predetermined by Soa? Does the Black Monster have to kill her?"

_Yes. I did it before, to save the world. I don't like it, but I have to._

As if reading my thoughts, he goes on relentlessly. "You meant to kill her when she was an infant. But you killed the wrong one. You killed Louvia instead. But then later on, you tried to kill her again. In front of my very eyes, you tried to kill Shana."

I decide to go with the truth. "Shana has to die. There is no way to separate her own physical body from the soul of the God of Destruction. You have to choose, Dart. Shana or the world?"

_I have already made my own decision. _

"I don't want to choose."

Gods, but I thought he had already cleared it up. I must continue to stay with him then, to make sure he does not choose the wrong side. If so, then I will have to fight him.

"You must choose, or I will make up your mind for you," I warn him. "I have to continue what I have been doing for the past eleven millennia. I have to kill the Moon Child to save the world from being destroyed. If you want to save Shana, you'll have to kill me."

"You killed hundreds and thousands of people! You destroyed entire cities and villages!" he yells, drawing his sword. "You tried to kill Shana right in front of me!"

"I had to! I don't want to either, but I have to! Do you think this makes me happy?" I pull my own dark sword from its sheath. "Do you think I like to kill people just for the fun of it? Because I have nothing else to do? Do you think I like to watch them suffer as their life drains dry? Do you think I want to kill Shana? Do you think I want to stand against Zieg? Do you think I want to fight the one man _who meant my entire world to me_?"

When I have finished my own shrieking, our swords have clashed together, and we are both pushing with a strength that comes from anger. I am not going to back down, and I won't surrender. Not now. If his mind is not made up between what is the most important thing, then I must stay alive and fight him.

My sword is resting on his throat, just as his is pointing to pierce straight into my heart.

It is a long time before he sighs and puts his blade back in his sheath. I do not remove my sword until his is in its sheath and he himself is sitting down.

"I'm sorry," he says miserably. "I promised that you wouldn't have to go through it alone anymore. I said I forgave you for what happened."

"Obviously, you didn't," I snap. My breathing is still ragged, still furious.

Dart waits until I have calmed down to speak. "I'm sorry, Rose. I know that you don't want to kill Shana either."

"But if it comes to that, then I will," I tell him darkly.

He pretends not to hear that comment. "I apologize. You've already gone to hell and back, and you shouldn't have to listen to me yell at you."

I didn't.

"You've already been through too much."

I stay silent.

"You surprised me when you screamed. I didn't think you had it in you."

I throw him a dark look of contempt. "You didn't really think that after 11,000 years, I wouldn't have any anger in me? After watching all my friends die, and the one man I loved to be turned to stone and torn away from me? Then to realize that 11,000 years later he has come back to life, married another woman, had a son, and is now the most powerful enemy I will have to face?"

"It's all right to scream if you want. I understand you have a large amount of hate and anger in you."

"Not at you. At me. I wish I had died in the Dragon Campaign."

"If you did, there would be no world today."

I swipe my hand across my cheek angrily, and the gloves come away stained with red. I frown. My nails could not have gone through the material of my gloves. Then I remember Dart's sword opening a thin cut on my cheek.

"I'm sorry."

"Leave it. It will heal." I say shortly.

I wish I could say the same for my wounds not seen.

By the time we actually set foot into Vellweb again, I am no longer angry.

Dart has the most reason to hate me. I had killed his mother, burned his hometown and tried to kill his soulmate in front of his very eyes. He had the chance to kill me twice and didn't. He has the right to hate me for what I did.

But he does not hate me, for some reason, and that confuses me.

We are approaching the spot where Shirley had appeared in front of all of us. She is not there; I cannot see her.

But when I walk through that place, invisible white light seems to heal me, bringing peace to my mind. The cut on my cheek closes up and heals, disappearing as if it had never been.

"I wonder if Shirley's healing powers are still here?" Dart wonders.

I shrug, and point at the looming towers. "There. I'm sure that the four of them are in there." I start up the dusty staircase of the ruins.

The first room has nothing more than dust and rocks. I turn and walk toward the other intricately carved towers.

"Rose, what did Shirley mean when she said free them?" Dart asks.

I do not answer. I am sure he already knows the answer.

"You're going to kill them, aren't you?"

I stiffen, my fists clenching. "No." I finally say. "They are already dead. I cannot kill the dead."

I had expected him to argue, to say something with that flaming passion that he often holds. But instead, he just nods. "I understand."

_Do you really?_

"They are chained here. They cannot go where they are supposed to be," he says, as if sensing my thoughts. I know this already, but his saying it eases something in me.

The room is brightly lit. A beautiful chandelier is hanging from the ceiling, and a red carpet unfurls across the room, leading up to several steps and a chair not quite elaborate enough to be called a throne.

"It's the exact same as the past." I whisper quietly to myself.

There is a man standing there.

An enormous man dressed in bronze armor, with a giant axe slung on his back. His back is facing us but I recognize him.

_He is!_

He is speaking. "Children...I will realize the freedom you wished, and the future I promised to you. Children. Please watch us."

"Is that the soul of one of the Dragoons that is trapped in this world?" Dart asks.

I start violently; I had forgotten about the red-clad warrior while looking at my old friend. "Yes. His name is Belzac. He is the Dragoon recognized by the Golden Dragoon Spirit. But...why is he still here?"

Belzac turns around, and his eyes light up. Friendly, kind, considerate, compassionate, that had always been Belzac. Large as a Giganto, though whether or not he was actually one, I do not know. I never bothered to ask. I had always been too busy following Zieg around. I realize now that I had been stupid and selfish. Gods I wish I could go back in time to change everything.

"Is that you, Rose?" Belzac asks. "And Zieg!" he pauses, walking closer and studying Dart. "No, it seems not. Who are you?"

"It's a long story." I interrupt him. "We don't have time to tell you about it now."

"Yes, indeed." Belzac agrees. "The subjugation for Kadessa is beginning soon. The last strategy has to be completed for the sake of the children who were killed by the Winglies."

I frown, realizing now what is tying him to the world of the living. "Belzac...You haven't realized it yet?"

Belzac tilts his massive head. "Realized what?"

I look away, grimacing. I don't want to tell him. "You...are..." I debate for a moment whether or not to tell him the truth, and decide that I should. He deserves the truth. "No, not only you but everybody but me has died."

Belzac jerks back. "Everybody died? Including me?" He pauses and his eyes are full of torment. "...Shirley died too? No, it cannot be. I took the attack of the Super Virage with my own body to be the shield for Shirley!"

"You remember now."

"No way," Belzac shakes his head furiously. "I don't believe that Shirley is dead. I won't believe it!"

The huge axe lifts off his back, clutching it in his hand. He rushes at me, the axe swooping down.

I cry out as I tuck and roll, diving down and rolling under his upraised arm to stand behind him. "Belzac!"

But the light in his eyes is insane. He is blinded by his own denial of what is truth.

_I didn't want to fight you!_

But I have to. I of all people understand obligation the most.

I draw my sword, blocking his next attack. He jumps back, swinging the axe again, reminding me of Kongol. I drop to my knees and throw my torso backward, the rounded blade almost severing my head.

I pull my legs out from under me, kicking out at his kneecap. He pauses but does not stop, the axe cleaving down. I roll out of the way where the axe lifts a crevice in the floor.

I slash the blade at his knee, and as he moves the axe to block, I sweep the sword up to slice.

He is quick for one his size. The blade cuts a deep wound in his shoulder but it does not kill him. I am too slow to completely avoid the next swing, where it bites into my left hand.

"No!" I barely manage to spin to the side before he would have sliced my head off my shoulders. "Belzac, stop it!"

He pauses, maybe for old time's sake, for half an instant, and that is all the time I need.

I lunge forward, the sword in a thrust, piercing through the bronze armor and into his flesh.

The sword comes out stained with blood, and Belzac drops to his knees.

No one speaks for several seconds. The Earth Dragoon speaks first.

"Now I remember the truth... But death is not as sad as I imagined. Thank you, Rose."

Thank you. Those words are important to me. You have no idea how much.

Belzac's body is fading now, just simply fading like that. The instant before he completely disappears, there is a golden light that blinds me.

When the light of the Earth Dragoon diminishes, the magnificently decorated room is gone, just the same as any other of the rooms now, covered in eleven thousand years' worth of dust and grime.

"You will meet everyone there." I whisper, as if Belzac is still listening. "Yes, the Shirley you loved will be there too." I shake myself and begin to sheathe my blade. Stunned, I stare down. "The blood..."

"What is it?" Dart asks.

Belzac's blood no longer stains my sword. It is gone, and the metal gleams brightly without any sign that there had ever been blood from that battle.

"Perhaps it is because you were supposed to kill him." Dart suggests.

I look at the warrior who had decided to come with me. "Let's go on... Dart."

"Rose, you're hurt."

I stare down at the blood dripping from my hand and shrug. "It's nothing."

"It'll infect if you don't do something. At least let me. In apology for before."

Slightly irritated at his brotherly concern, I allow him to pull my glove off and inspect the wound. I sit impatiently as he applies healing salve and binds it.

Yanking the glove back on, I say to him, "It did not matter. The others are just as good fighters as Belzac was. I am ready."

The next room is the one I hated most.

An acrid scent of incense fills my nose, gagging me. Rows and rows of little dolls, crudely carved, line the shelves of the room. It is a small room, with a fireplace on the other side.

Here too...the same as the past.

There is a bright violet light, and a harsh voice demands, "Who is it?"

The light coalesces into Kanzas. Dark hair, uncombed and disheveled, as if it had been hastily grabbed and formed. Wild eyes insane with bloodlust. Lean limbs, but powerful. Fists with many calluses, and a death to go with every single one.

"Oh it's you." Kanzas says without any enthusiasm. Small wonder; he had not liked me much, and the feeling was mutual "You hate this place so much. What made you change your mind about coming here?"

"I didn't change my mind," I tell him. "These dolls still make me feel nauseous." I poke at one particularly ugly doll.

"Say what you want!" Kanzas says. His voice, his disposition, his entire aura, is enough to make Dart shy a bit farther outside, standing in the doorway. "These are mementos to remind me of the taste of blood dripping from my fist. There is no reason to be criticized by you!"

I make a noise like a bitter laugh. "The people killed by you won't be saved if they find a memento in such poor taste as their womb."

"You came here to become one of the dolls?" Kanzas asked, hateful and still curious.

I ignore his question. "I now understand why you are tied to this world. You haven't killed enough."

"Then let me be satisfied by you!"

I had anticipated the attack. I had built up my energy outside, so my transformation into Dragoon form is easy. The room is too small. My wings knock over some of the dolls.

I hover outside, into the sun.

Kanzas follows, already transformed. He seems unarmed, but I know that his fists are powerful, more powerful than a normal human weapons master. They can shatter skin and muscle, and go directly through bones.

"Rose!" Dart yells.

I ignore him, focusing on the battle. Kanzas is not an easy opponent to defeat. What he lacks for in self-control, he makes up for threefold with sheer strength and power.

"Atomic Mind!"

I avoid half the blast, but the other half strikes me in the chest, sending me careening through the air. I have to flap like the demon they call me to regain my balance.

"Astral Drain!"

We exchange blows in midair, with him easily avoiding my silvery blade, and myself twisting my body to avoid his fists.

My thrust is already being blocked; Kanzas has not lost his reflexes.

After a long while, I run out of energy. My Dragoon form fails me. I dive out of the way and transform back, no longer having the power to fight anymore, too tired.

Kanzas dives down to land on the ground and then pushes off as if to kill me.

Or rather, he tries to. Dart has joined the battle, leaping forward and cutting a deep slash in Kanzas's arm, drawing blood and adding to the multiple scars already there.

The Thunder Dragoon swears at him, pausing for a moment, thinking it is Zieg.

Kanzas and I rarely fought, but when we did, Zieg always broke it up. He had always made sure I wouldn't get hurt, and Kanzas had been afraid of him.

But Dart is not Zieg, and Kanzas can see that. "Stupid boy!" he spits. "Get out of the way!"

Dart ignores him, sliding his gaze over to me. "Rose, are you all right?"

"This is my battle, Dart." I tell him, standing up.

The red-clad warrior is obviously displeased at the situation, but he obeys by backing off and letting me face Kanzas.

To my surprise, Kanzas transforms out of Dragoon form to face me as human.

I wait until the last moment, just as he is pulling his arm back. I slice at his chest. He shifts in his fighting stance, and the motion takes him back so that the blade merely grazes across the armor with a piercing shriek, breaking the armor but not his skin.

But I had underestimated his self-control. He does not jump back and yell. In fact, he completely ignores it, continuing with his attack. His speed takes me by surprise, and I backpedal frantically, but his punch comes into sharp contact, and I fly back, my sternum bruised, probably broken. I can only hope the shards don't pierce any of my organs. My sword clatters to the ground.

I land on my toes, teetering a few steps before regaining my balance. But in that time, Kanzas has already leapt forward, and is attacking again.

Without my blade, I have only my arms and legs to defend me. I have practiced empty-handed fighting before, but Kanzas has been a master of it since 11,000 years ago, and I could never be his match. All I can do to block most of his attacks, taking the rest of them with winces. My body will be black and blue for a week at least.

The pain is excruciating by now, terrifying.

I am weakening again. And Kanzas sees this. But what he does is his downfall.

He steps back, smirking. "You never were able to defeat me, Rose. You always hid behind Zieg. He always protected you. The idiot never realized how weak you were."

His words drive an inhuman fury into me. Everyone had respected Zieg, just as everyone respected Dart, and for him to speak of him so casually infuriates me.

Words are stupid. While he wastes his breath talking, distracted, I am already moving.

He notices too late. With an exhilarating adrenaline pumping through my veins, I find that I am strong enough to stand up again, and quick enough to dive forward and grab my sword.

Kanzas starts, coming forward again.

Standing, armed with my sword now, I am ready. As he dives forward, I spin until I am behind him. He has underestimated me. I grab his shoulders; throw him over mine. He is shifting to land on his feet, but he must take all his concentration to do that, and while he does, I attack.

I wait until everything has calmed down, until he sits, defeated, staring up at me.

"I was surprised when you joined the Dragon Campaign after being persuaded by Shirley," I tell him. "But after all, it was to kill?"

"Yes, that's right." Kanzas admits, tossing his head defiantly. "But it wasn't the only reason. I thought the nobleness of Shirley, which I could never have, would take me somewhere I could otherwise never know. Some bright place I couldn't know. So even after death, I have been looking for that place."

When the violet light fades, the room is ancient once more.

"The 'bright place'...I hope you can reach there." I say truthfully, shaking my head, watching the blood fade from the sword. "Let's keep going."

Dart insists that I rest up before the next battle.

"You're in no shape to fight another one of the Dragoons."

When I protest fiercely, he only says, "They're just as powerful as you, Rose, and that's really saying something."

I shut up, vaguely annoyed. I rest for the rest of the evening to help heal the wounds I have picked up. I am right; I am sore in many places, and black and blue in most. I try several stretching exercises to loosen my muscles and ignore the pain.

Over the years I have found out that if my mind is focused on something else, the pain is not as great. It is as Albert said when Lavitz had died, "It does not hurt so much when I busy myself doing something else."

"Both Belzac and Kanzas looked like their...counterparts. Kongol and Haschel...they both got the same Dragoon Spirits."

"I told you when we met in Hoax. I told you that your friends reminded me of the friends that I had lost. I was not lying."

"So these four Dragoons were your friends?"

"Yes. More or less. As well as Shirley and Zieg."

This makes Dart flinch. "Kanzas said that you hid behind my father all the time. He protected you?"

I nod, miserably staring down at a particular rock on the ground. "We were close. I loved him. He was my entire world, my entire life. He was all I lived for. And when I thought he died, my universe crumbled apart. His leaving me made it easier for me to become the Black Monster."

Dart's eyes shift, and I go on.

"Dart, you say that you forgive me, but I know you don't. I know you still hate me for it. You must tell me, because then I will leave. I won't stop my quest. I will kill the Moon Child and do everything I can to save the world. If you can't stand that, then I'll leave. I can do this on my own."

He shakes his head. "No. It's not that."

"Don't lie to me. Every time I bring up the fact that I'm the Black Monster, you flinch."

"It's not that." He repeats again. "I don't hate you for what you did. I apologize before for what I said. I was stressed, and worrying about Shana. It's not an excuse, I know, and I'm sorry. But I don't flinch because I'm afraid of you or hate you or what you are afraid of."

Afraid? No, Dart, I'm not afraid of the fact that you hate me. I can go on by myself.

_Oh stop it._ Another voice says. _Admit it, you coward, you would hate it if you should split from this group._

"I don't flinch because I hate you." Dart repeats. "It's just that every time you say you're the Black Monster, I remember what hell you have to go through. About all the people that you kill, and about all the guilt and regret that you have to carry around on your shoulders—"

"That's the point. There is no regret."

"I understand. Because if you had let them live, then they would have had a worse life serving the God of Destruction. I know. And I understand that it pains you. That's why I look uncomfortable every time. We can't take away your pain but we can help you carry it."

I shift awkwardly, standing up and grabbing the supplies. "Let's go on."

"Nothing has changed here...it is the same." I survey the messy room strewn with books and the tall blonde man with the green armor of the Wind Dragoon.

"Syuveil...what an irony that you who studied life and death cannot die completely."

"Is that you, Rose?" Syuveil turns around at the sound of my voice. He has the same soft golden hair as Albert. "Is anything wrong? You brought a guest with you?"

"I...was asked by Shirley and came to see how you are doing. How are you? How are your studies?"

Syuveil smiles. "Through the subjugation of Mayfil I think I completely understand where life comes from and where it goes. Winglies have been manipulating souls, namely life, from Mayfil, the place known as the Death Capital, and the Crystal Palace known as the Life Capital. We saw in Mayfil the destination of life. The darkness opened up into hell. The world of shadows, without light."

"That is why you cannot die completely."

Syuveil does not deny it like Belzac did. He nods. "I don't want to go to a world of nothing spread out on the tip of darkness." He admits without shame. "I don't like nothingness." His face changes. "Where should I go?!"

"I'll tell you now."

He jerks back when I move—my aim is off. I manage to draw first blood along his collarbone before Syuveil snaps to life, as if remembering how to fight, lifting the lance to block my next move.

Syuveil only takes the defensive, not the offensive. I hate to fight him. He had always been kind in the Dragon Campaign. A bit reserved, maybe, but he was never cruel, never rambunctious like Kanzas could be. Syuveil was always off in his own little world, thinking, calculating.

When he does take the offensive, he surprises me. He lashes out with a rage I didn't know he possessed, bringing the lance down sharply on my head.

I jump back just in time, swinging up my blade. I block the next few, but one powerful thrust sends me to the ground on my knees.

The lance comes down again. I move automatically, sword arm coming up to block. He pushes down, I push back up. I lay the palm of my left hand against the flat of my blade, helping me.

While both of Syuveil's arms are occupied, I take a risk. I push up with my legs, and strike out, betting everything on one kick.

I have strong legs. My kick sends Syuveil stumbling back, stunned.

It is not enough time for me to attack him, but enough for me to stand up and regain my breath.

The next few minutes are heated. But as I am blocking another of his attacks, his face slides into a look of shock and apprehension. He falls to reveal Dart standing behind him.

"Dart!" I yell. "This is _my_ battle! They are _my_ friends!"

He shakes his head. "Shirley asked for _us_ to free them."

I glare at him, kneeling down by Syuveil.

He speaks, his quiet voice calm. The insanity that had possessed him before is gone. "Somewhere in the east country," he says. "There is this legend. 'Life does not come from anywhere or go anywhere. It just goes around with all other lives. It is part of a great wheel.'" He pauses, smiling, with King Albert's knowing. "I can come back... again. To the place with light... to the place with warm lives."

I sigh, shaking my head. "How can I tell you?" I have seen too much death to hope that there is something warm afterwards awaiting each of us. I know it does not await me. "But maybe ahead in the 'hell' you saw in Mayfil, there might be a place with light waiting for you. All is...up to you."

"Yes," he agrees, "It is what I have to decide. Where I want to go now...I must think it through. Thank you, Rose."

The last room is beautiful. An exquisite water fountain placed in the center of the room takes up almost all the space. The walls have hangings of pictures of the sea, and a young silver-haired girl sits at the mouth of the fountain, humming quietly and swinging her legs. She carries a lighthearted grace with her.

Here too...the same as the past.

"She is still a kid," Dart whispers, horrified.

"Yes." I agree. "She was fourteen years old back then. She was younger than Meru is."

"Such kids could manage the power of Dragoons?"

"Yes. She was born between a human and a mermaid. So that she had a special power."

Damia looks up, her sweet face breaking into a smile. "Rose, you were worried and came here to see me?"

"Yes." I return the smile as best as I can, considering the given circumstances.

"Thank you as always." Damia says. "Rose, don't go anywhere. Don't leave me alone again."

I look away.

"Say something... Rose, you're going to make me feel lonely like everybody else!" She accuses.

"No, I won't." I answer honestly. "There is nobody who bullies you like in the past anymore. We won't let them."

Damia nods, smiling. She looks at Dart for a few seconds but doesn't say anything. "Yes, Rose and the other Dragoons are all kind to me." She studies me. "But...why make such a sad face?"

I shut my eyes tightly. "Sorry, Damia. But there is somewhere you have to go. Forgive me."

She trusted me too much. She didn't have time to grab her own weapon, a giant intricately decorated hammer just like Meru's, before my sword went through her. The bright red blood pours out on the silvery armor and all over my sword. It gets on my hands and in my face.

Damia stares up at me, terrified, betrayed. I cannot stand seeing the hurt in her eyes. "Rose!"

I pull my blade out, stepping back. Dart steps protectively in front of me so that I won't have to see.

But when I look again, Damia is smiling. She is not in pain anymore. Her sweet face is not twisted in tears of hurt at my betrayal. She smiles. She understands.

"Damia, everything will be okay," I assure her. "When you go there, everybody will be waiting for you."

"It's true." Damia says, her voice breathy and excited. "I feel...I feel them. Are you coming, Rose?" She holds out her hand.

"Yes. When the time has come, everybody goes there. I will." I grasp her hand tightly. "_Soon._" I promise quietly, fiercely.

"Then, I'm relieved." Damia smiles, and hugs me. "See you."

She fades from me, even though I am holding her hand. I stand up, sliding the stainless sword back into its sheath. "Now let's go."

Even though I say it, I stay here, staring at the dusty spot where the fountain used to be.

"Rose," Dart says gently. "It's time to leave."

We were traveling up the last mountain to blocked us from the Queen Fury when the Black Monster appeared.

I hadn't meant for it to happen.

The Succubus appeared out of nowhere, her quick silent footsteps taking the both of us by surprise. We had been talking.

"I was stupid back then." I am telling Dart in response to his question. "I didn't know how to control the Dragoon Spirit. The others had to show me. I still remember when they had to teach me, and I was so frightened. That's why I am what I'm like now. It's to cover up what I really feel, and to make amends for what happened back then."

"That's not true." Dart replies, slightly breathless because the mountain is steep and he is not used to such mountains. "You did nothing wrong. I'm—"

I curse myself for my weakness. By talking with Dart, I had distracted myself, and I did not hear or feel the Succubus coming up the mountain behind us, her swift wings carrying her soundlessly.

She leaps onto Dart's back, her winged arms clenching at his triceps, pinning his arms down at his sides, making him drop his sword. Her fangs lengthen to delicate points and she sinks them into his neck. Dart cries out, in surprise and pain.

"Leave him!" I command, slashing with my sword.

The Succubus pulls her face off Dart's neck long enough to hiss at me, making Dart turn and back up. I barely manage to pause my arm before the blade cuts his arm off.

Blind anger clouds my mind, and my self-control snaps.

Black wings made of nothing but sheer power appear behind me, sprouting from my shoulder blades, looking like dark mist. My body becomes covered with the same fog, dark and endless and consuming. None of my features are shown through, including the fact that I am a female. Even my sword, usually gleaming silver, is shrouded in darkness. I am nothing but a sheer entity of hate and power now.

The Black Monster.

"Get OFF of him!" I roar, in a voice like raging fire and howling wind and rumbling thunder, enormous and horrible. My aura, my entire being, rises into the air into something so tall and terrible that a Giganto would be a tiny mass of cowardice.

The Succubus pauses in her attacks, staring around her. Thinking that Dart is my prey, she leaps off him, hovering a few inches off the ground in awe and terror.

I hold out one arm, and command the power to flow from my fingertips. I can feel the magic twisting the air, shooting toward the Succubus, more deadly than any arrow or blade could ever be. The monster is consumed in black flame, shrieking and writhing in pain.

It takes all of a second and she is nothing more than a scattering of black dust on the wind.

Dart surges to his feet, his hand at the wounds on his neck. "Rose?" he whispers.

He's seen me as I really am now.

Gathering back the power, I harness the dark energy and put it back into its Dragoon Spirit, restoring myself to my normal dark-haired woman form. "The Black Monster." I reply quietly.

Dart nods, not at my words, but at my unspoken question. I move forward looking at his neck. The puncture marks are already starting to close.

"Don't fool around with it." I tell him. "It'll go away after an hour."

There is a moment of silence, and then Dart speaks.

"You transformed."

"Yes."

Dart shakes his head. "I...I could...I could feel you. Your aura, your spirit...so dark. It was terrible."

I nod. There is nothing I can say. Nothing can justify the Black Monster. Nothing can justify any murders.

"And yet..." Dart sighs, sitting down. "It wasn't you. It was the Black Monster, but not the Rose that I know. Am I right?"

Unable to control my own movements, I sit down too, across from him, draping my arms over my knees. "Yes. Whenever I transform...it's like I am not Rose anymore. The mind of the Black Monster takes over. I..." I gesture helplessly. "We are two different people."

"I know you hate it." Dart says, gently. "I don't know how I can, but I do. When you changed, when I saw...I felt your emotions, your thoughts. It was...it was like a line that drew me into your thoughts and told me what was going on. You hated transforming, but you did it anyway to save me."

"Yes."

"Thank you." Dart shifts for a moment, and I think that he is going to get up, but instead he leans forward and kisses me.

It was a gentle kiss, soft and undemanding, and when he pulled back, I knew. I am not hurt. It was not a kiss of love, but friendship, a way of telling me that he forgives me and that he supports me no matter what. A token of gratitude perhaps. And I do not mind it not being anything more than that.

Wordlessly, he gets to his feet and holds out his hand, smiling. I take his hand and pull myself to my feet, grabbing the supplies. "Come. Let's get back to the Queen Fury."

"You're back! You're back!" Meru jumps up and down when she sees us. "What happened? Did you free the Dragoons?"

"We freed the Dragoons. There will be no more suffering for them now."

King Albert moves forward. "Dart, Rose, a few hours ago...we saw something. No, more like felt. A darkness...a complete and utter hatred. Was it..."

"The Black Monster." Dart confirms.

Everyone shifts their eyes toward me. I stare back, defiant.

"She did it to save me," Dart adds hastily. "I was attacked. Rose saved me."

I shake my head. "The Black Monster saved you."


End file.
